Laura documented her travels from De Smet, South Dakota, to Missouri. On August 13, 1894, she wrote that her horse was scared by the railroad cars in Rossville, Kansas, and ran right into some barbed wire. This was one of numerous accounts of the trials she and her party experienced while heading to Missouri in wagons. [Laura Ingalls Wilder, Papers, 1894-1943 (C3633), The State Historical Society of Missouri, Manuscript Collection-Columbia (Courtesy of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home…

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch-American feminist activist known for her critical views of female genital mutilation and Islam. She has written an autobiography titled Infidel. She currently teaches Government Studies at Columbia University.

Women's History Month: Closing the Ambition Gap

Author, activist and founder of Feministing.com, Jessica Valenti was recently named one of the "Top 100 Inspiring Women in the World" by The Guardian. Known largely for her work as a feminist writer, the Columbia Journalism Review reported her website, Feministing.com, to be "head and shoulders above almost any writing on women's issues in mainstream media."

(1858-1964) Anna Julia Cooper was an educator, author, activist and one of the most prominent African American scholars in US history. She gave voice to African-Americans during the 19th and 20th centuries, from the end of slavery to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Cooper studied French literature and history before enrolling as a doctoral student at Columbia University in 1914 while remaining a full-time teacher. She was only the 4th African-American woman in the US to earn a…

11 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism All Day Long

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. She's pictured here riding on the flight deck of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1983. The physicist, author and professor was an inspiration to us all. (Photo: AP and NASA)

How to Make Your Writing (a Little Bit) Better

How to Make Your Writing (a Little Bit) Better~ 1) Be Bold (Even if You're Not) 2) Make Yourself into a Real-Life Elizabeth Bennet 3) Take the Contrarian Position 4) Don't Forget Your Inner Adult 5) Bring in the World

Erica Jong (née Mann; born March 26, 1942) is an American author and teacher. She is better known for her fiction and poetry than her other works. A 1963 graduate of Barnard College, and with an M.A. in 18th century English Literature from Columbia University (1965). Jong is best known for her first novel, Fear of Flying (1973), which created a sensation with its frank treatment of a woman's sexual desires.